A better title for this concept is “How to write a press release that won’t get thrown away faster and more viciously than Igor Vovchanchyn knocked out Francisco Bueno.”

Writing a press release can be important, whether you are promoting enrollment at your school, a local tournament, or anything else.

You’re doing two things here: a) giving a reporter a heads up that you have something worth covering, and b) giving them some info to fill out their story.

Often, stories, particularly short items, are written entirely from news releases – you’re reading the words of someone who has done this. Having a short item that’s only a couple of paragraphs long can still be valuable to your school or other event. I have seen many events packed because of an item just a few sentences long in the local paper.

Before you send out your news release, you might want to call the local paper and check when their deadline is for articles. If you’re dealing with a weekly paper, or perhaps a daily that has a special section of local events once a week, you want to make sure you’re not too late to be included. Just because a weekly paper comes out on, say, Monday, doesn’t mean their deadline is Sunday evening – or even Friday afternoon. It takes a lot of time and effort to put these papers together.

In some cases, a particular section for a paper that comes out on a Monday may have a deadline of Tuesday or Wednesday. So make sure you plan ahead so you are not shut out.


There are probably a number of schools of thought on how to write a press release, just like there are many ways of teaching a basic armbar or guard pass. I’ll give you one, but feel free to explore others.

For the purposes of this media guide, we’ll assume you’re sending out a press release to promote an event – let’s say you’re hosting a tournament at your school.

Don’t worry about overloading your press release with information – the last thing you want is for a reporter’s eyes to glaze over and throw the thing out or hit the delete button on his or her computer.

The most important things to get across is the vital information about your event: what it is, what jiu-jitsu and/or MMA is, where it will be held, and when. You’ll also want to include a contact number where the reporters can reach you to ask some questions.

If there is something particularly interesting about your event – large cash prizes, participation from prominent fighters, etc – that’s icing on the cake.

Here’s a sample of a news release for a tournament – feel free to use it as the basis of a news release for one of your own events.


Arlington VA BJJ
Contact: Jeremy Singer, 703-555-5555
jsinger@arlingtonvabjj.com


ARLINGTON, VA -- April 18, 2006 – Arlington VA BJJ will be hosting an open invitational BJJ tournament at its Clarendon Blvd location on Saturday April 29.

The tournament will feature some of the top Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) fighters on the East Coast, as well as a featured “super fight” between one of the top Brazilian black belts and a top American BJJ black belt.

These matches will feature the fast-paced action of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, a self defense style made popular in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, and shown on television weekly during "The Ultimate Fighter" on Spike TV.

Reporters and photographers are welcome. If you have questions, call Jeremy Singer at the above contact information.

Arlington VA BJJ has been teaching Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in Arlington since 1999. The school has roughly 100 students who train in this martial art for self-defense, competition, and physical fitness. The school is located at 5555 Clarendon BLVD, and can be found online at www.arlingtonvabjj.com

It’s critical to be ready when you place that call to a reporter. It may be that they are so interested in your school that they will start firing some questions at you right away.

If you can’t answer those questions clearly, it’s the equivalent of a first round knock out.

With no preparation, you may end up like one of the karate guys in the initial UFCs that had no clue about what a real fight was like, who had never taken or dealt a hard punch to the face, who flopped around like a dying fish once they were taken to the ground.

This doesn’t mean that you should be afraid of reporters, even though many people are. I can’t tell you how many people find the idea of talking to a reporter frightening -- including many of the people that I have dealt with in the military. These are guys that train to kill and build systems capable of killing many people very efficiently. So why are they afraid of a guy like me who has never killed anyone?

The point is that these reporters are busy, underpaid (for the most part), over-stressed people. They don’t have time to fool around, so they want to cut to the chase. It’s tempting to hope that since you are someone who has not dealt with the media before, that they will take it easy on you, the same way you might take it easy on the newer or smaller people in your class during sparring.

But this is a different situation. The reporter has no reason to feel much sympathy for you, the way that you can easily put yourself in the position of the guy who has just started training, and maybe you don’t want to scare them away from training at your school.

With the right preparation, you will have nothing to worry about.

But it has to be the right preparation – preparation alone is not good enough. You can probably think of countless examples of fighters who trained hard for fights but did not train right. A great example is Frank Trigg, an enormously talented wrestler in the UFC. Trigg appeared to have all the tools to be a great fighter – solid striking, excellent wrestling, great athleticism – but he lost three fights in a short stretch to a rear naked choke. You’d think after the first time this happened, Trigg would have worked hard to learn every escape possible from a rear naked choke. But no, he didn’t. Trigg has even admitted on the Pride broadcasts that he has been lacking in mental preparation.

Another example is an experience I had in 2005, when I was invited to appear on CSPAN on a Saturday morning and answer questions from the host and callers for 30 minutes. I was honored by the invitation, and spent my entire commute for several days asking myself the sorts of questions I imagined I would receive. I asked myself every question I could think of, and by Thursday evening, felt ready to handle anything.

The problem was that I was only envisioning sorts of questions I thought of myself. Had I gone on the show without additional preparation, it would have been one of the most embarrassing experiences of my life. I would have likely frozen up in the face of the questions. It would have been worse than Tank Abbott and John Matua.


But I saved myself. The day before going on the show, I decided to check it out for myself. First, the pace of the show was much, much different than I expected – this was no lounging on the couch with Oprah, the host was firing questions one after another. BAM BAM BAM, like a Vitor Belfort (old Vitor, not new one) flurry of punches.

Even more striking were the questions that came from the callers. The guest that I was watching came on to talk about homeland security, but these people asked him about just about everything under the sun that had to do with government and the military.


Remember Vitor Belfort blowing away Tra Telligman in one of his first major MMA fights? Telligman thought he was getting into the ring with a grappler, and wasn’t ready for the flurries of Vitor’s fists.

Start to think of some of the questions that you need to be prepared to answer.

Sometimes you’ve done all you could. You explained everything clearly to a reporter before they showed up at the school. You gave them plenty of written materials for them to use as a reference. They visited the school, and you spent two hours demonstrating moves for them. You made the follow-up call to see if they had additional questions.

But it wasn’t enough.

This can happen from time to time. Sometimes journalists made mistakes – they’re only human after all. Or sometimes, you happen to encounter a lazy writer. Just like any profession, there are some lousy journalists. I should know. While I’ve made a number of mistakes over the course of my career in journalism that I would attribute mostly to human error, I’ve also worked with some terrible writers.

Here’s a hypothetical example. After all your hard work, the reporter still writes an article that doesn’t reflect any of the good information you gave them. I don’t mean to scare you – I don’t think this happens very often. But just like fight training, sometimes you need to prepare for the worst to ensure things don’t fall apart if something unexpected happens – some guys don’t like to fight from their backs in MMA fights, but you can be sure that they train plenty of guard techniques in case they get put there.

So if the reporter writes a lame article and compares what you are doing to barroom brawling, take a deep breath. All is not lost. Hopefully there are still some positive aspects to the article that can draw people to your school. Someone looking for an MMA school would likely still see the article and having seen reporters butcher MMA-related articles many times already, would still come check out your school.

But you want to correct the misconceptions – even if it’s just a matter of a few small things.

Don’t handle it by calling up the reporter and yelling at them. It won’t make things any better. Nobody likes to be yelled at, and when the person in question doesn’t work for your, or is not, say, your dog, it’s not likely to accomplish more much than having the phone hung up in your ear.

A better approach is writing a letter – email is fine and in fact is probably preferable – thanking the publication for the article. Say that you appreciated being featured in their publication, but are concerned that there were a few mistakes – while you’re being polite, don’t shy away from letting them know that there were errors.

The first thing an editor will consider when confronted by being notified of a problem with an article is to ask whether it is a big enough deal to correct in print. I have seen this first hand many times. Frankly, an editor would like to avoid having to run a correction if he or she can – after all, who likes to admit they were wrong if they don’t have to – but a good one won’t hesitate to run a correction on an issue as small as a misspelling of a name. If you can clearly explain where they went wrong with the facts, you should have no problem getting a correction.

Find out who the editor is, and get their email address. This should be clear from the pages of the paper, but if not, give them a call and let them know you want to send an email to the editor about a correction. They should give you the name and contact info that you need without any problem.


Here’s a sample of what a letter to the editor could look like:

Dear (Editor’s name here):

I appreciated the recent article on my jiu-jitsu academy. I hope that it can help spread the word about this exciting martial art, which is rapidly gaining popularity due to the physical fitness and self defense skills gained by those who practice it.

However, I was concerned that the article repeated some common misconceptions about Brazilian jiu-jitsu. It is far from the blood sport depicted in your pages. In fact, one of the reasons that Brazilian jiu-jitsu is so useful to those who seek to defend themselves from an attack on the street or win in an ultimate fighting event is that it is safe and gentle to practice.

Unlike other martial arts that rely on painful striking, eye-pokes, groin kicks and “death blows,” Brazilian jiu-jitsu is effective precisely because it can be practiced at full speed without the fear of major injury.

Thank you again for your interest in our school.

Sincerely,

(Your name, followed by the address of the school)



I know it sounds corny, but you have now “taken a lemon and turned it into lemonade.”

You have corrected the misconception for those who saw the article, and those who didn’t see the article have gotten a brief glimpse at what makes your school great.

Even if you feel that you need to tick off a few things – they spelled your name wrong, misidentified one of the student’s jobs, etc., don’t hesitate to let them know – running that correction is like another piece of free advertising for your school; less detailed than an article, but a nice reminder to people that your school is out there. Just take a deep breath before you write.

Jeremy Lafreniere’s academy has been on television at least five times, and has appeared in local newspapers as well. Each time that a story has run about Capital Jiu-Jitsu, which is located just outside Washington, D.C., Jeremy has seen a spike in business – something that rarely happens when he pays to run print ads.

I got in touch with Jeremy for this piece for a couple of reasons. One being that he and I trained together back in 1999 when I first got on the jiu-jitsu mat, so I figured that he’d answer my email. Second, I figured that with his success in appearing on television, he could give you the secret to getting on the airwaves as often as he does.

However, I was a bit surprised by some of the things that Jeremy told me. While he can’t give you the secret to calling a television or newspaper reporter to get them to come to your school, he has some great advice that can help ensure they come in and have a great visit that can help expand your business. As is often the case here, the advice is focused on a BJJ/MMA school, but the same principles apply to promoting a fighter or any other MMA-related business.

Jeremy’s experience does not mean that you don’t have to work to attract media attention. But sometimes you may be offered an opportunity, and you need to be ready to take it. If you put the same kind of effort into seizing an opportunity as Jeremy, you can turn it into a very productive relationship for your business. If you don’t take advantage of it, well, it will be your loss.

Read on!



Q. You have had a successful string of appearances on the local Fox news program – how’d you manage that?

A. The honest truth here is that I didn’t do anything. We did a “She’ Safe” women’s self-defense seminar. And when we did this women’s self defense seminar, word got out. At that time, Fox News was covering lots of stories about women getting sexually assaulted in Washington, D.C. As they were researching the topic, they found that we were doing these seminars, and wanted to cover it. At time Royce was here for seminar, so they also covered a little bit about Royce.

They were so excited about working with us because we are easy to work with. I’m very accommodating, easy to work with, reliable, timely, and helped them in any way I could and put on a good show for them. So now when they’ve needed a school or something about self-defense, they come to me, because I established that initial good impression. It’s also true for my success in general -- I always go out of my way to help people and accommodate people and make sure people are having a good experience.

Q. What have been the themes of your other appearances on television?

A. The first time that we were on television was because one of my students was murdered.

The news producers had looked on the Internet for his name, and because of our school’s message board out there, his name came up there, so they contacted me. I was very accommodating, allowed them to come in here, and ask us about him, and we had a lot of nice things to say.

While that was our first appearance on TV, the women’s self-defense seminar was what built the relationship for the continued appearances. We’ve had two appearances related to the International Fight League (IFL), because Fox’s sister station was hosting the show, so Fox wanted to do something about it.

While Fox was here to do one of the shows about the IFL, they found out that one of my students is an airline pilot who began training jiu-jitsu because of 9/11. So they came back and included him and the school in a story about homeland security efforts.

Q. How do your appearances on TV and the newspapers help your business compared to paid advertising?

A. Every time the press comes in here, it brings in business. But whenever I do paid advertising, you see no benefit – a very small return on my investment. Whenever the media comes in, it brings people with it.

Q. What do BJJ and MMA teachers need to do if a reporter is going to come to their gym?

A. You have got to be passionate about what you’re doing. You have got to be an ambassador about what you’re doing. You are not always going to be successful in what you pursue, but if someone is pursuing me, whether it is a college student working on a research paper or a reporter, I’ve always accommodated those people. I got right back to you in a day about doing this interview. If it’s a person asking about your classes, or a reporter, be enthusiastic, positive, and interested in what they have to say.

Q. What sort of things did you do before reporters came to visit?

A. I listened to them. When they wanted x amount of people here, I picked the students I thought would be interesting, or showcase the specific skill and ability, and made sure they were on the mat.

One thing I value is loyalty and reliability. So those are the kinds of people who I called when the reporters called me. They wanted to see real students doing BJJ and rolling around, so I made sure it happened. Those are the people I wanted representing the school. I don’t care if they’re the next MMA world champ -- talent doesn’t mean everything to me.

Q. Was there anything during your TV appearances that you wished you’d done differently?

A. No. They all went fantastic. Even with women’s self defense -- I had my wife in there. She doesn’t know jiu-jitsu, but I had so few women in the BJJ program at the time, so I called everyone I knew. My wife tried to do a hip throw and ended up on the ground. She looked silly, but I don’t regret it. You can’t take these things too seriously, whether the issue is being on TV or having your students competing at tournaments. If you do that, people won’t have fun and you create extra stress for yourself.

Q. Can you sum up why you have been successful in the BJJ business?

A. It comes down to opportunities – whether that is a news reporter calling or a new student knocking on the door. Most people don’t take advantage when opportunities come knocking.

When some people see opportunities, they think it’s too much work or hassle. When opportunity comes, I do what I can to take advantage of it.

--

Click here to learn more about Jeremy Lafreniere and Capital Jiu-Jitsu.

The follow-up call to a reporter after he or she visits your school can be really important.

I'm assuming at this point that you've successfully lured a reporter into your school to write about your academy. As with the other columns, this focuses on promoting a BJJ or MMA school, but the same principles can be used to promote another type of school, your fight career, etc.

You know the anxiety that you felt in school when you wrote a paper or took a test, and worried about the grade you were going to get? A reporter’s work is graded every week by thousands of people – maybe tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands. In some cases, even more. If he gets something wrong, he is going to hear about it! There’s nothing worse than getting a call from someone saying that you got a fact wrong, or spelled a name wrong.

Oh yeah, there is something worse -- having to go to your boss to explain why you have to run a correction.

So reporters have a certain amount of anxiety every time they write a story, particularly if it’s about something unfamiliar to them. And when they get anxious, they are often less likely to write a story – even if they have already completed an interview or two. I speak from experience.

I know that one of the things that always made me feel more comfortable as a reporter was the opportunity to have a follow-up conversation with the sources of my articles to make sure that I got the details right. Some news outlets allow a source to review an article prior to publication to ensure it is accurate, but like many other papers, mine does not allow me to send a source my article for them to review prior to publication.

Feel free to offer to review a reporter's article, but you may get turned down, and it may irritate them -- some can perceive it as meddling.

Instead, try this tact: give them a call the next day, and let them know how much you appreciated their taking the time out to come to your school. Tell them that you enjoyed talking to them, and that you are excited about the prospect of an article appearing in the paper. Say something like “Your paper probably has a policy of not letting sources read stories before they run. I know we gave you a ton of information that was probably difficult to digest all at once, so feel free to give me a call or drop me an email if there are any facts that you want to make sure you got straight.”

They’ll likely appreciate that -- reporters often feel that they don’t want to bother the sources of an article too much, and might opt not to call out of that concern. You’ve now opened the door for them to do so.

Then follow up with an email. Reiterate that you enjoyed talking to them, and that there are a few key points that you want to make clear. These may be different for each person and school, but here are a couple of things I recommended to Fernando Yamasaki when the Washington Post interviewed him for a major feature story. While I did not ask Fernando afterwards to see if he had followed my advice, the article clearly came out great.

Stories about Brazilian jiu-jitsu schools have often focused on the connection between the style and UFC, which has the perception that it is a bloodsport where people are routinely maimed. I can think of countless examples where I read a story in a local paper that is posted on a BJJ message board, and the students are all frustrated that the story paints their art as a bloodthirsty brawl where people are ripping each others limbs off.

It’s such a valuable opportunity to have an article written about your school that I told Fernando that he could not let this happen to our school.

I recommended that Fernando send him an email that outlined the following:

The UFC had that perception of being a bloodsport, but it is a common misconception, and in fact it has rules that protect the combatants.

BJJ is an art that people practice for fun, to stay in shape, and self defense.

The level of injuries in a BJJ class are similar to that of adults playing basketball. Sure, some people hurt a knee or throw their back out, but overall its fun and safe.

In addition to the physical fitness and self-defense skills gained at the Yamasaki Academy, the students share a rare level of comraderie.

Feel free to use my suggestion to Fernando as the basis for an email that you may send to a journalist after they visit your school, and hopefully together we can stamp out this misperception of our sport. A follow-up email can go a long way towards correcting this misconception, and help them avoid other errors as well.


Take care,
Jeremy